1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a browsing system wherein an operation screen for operating a server is provided to a client from the server as content to be browsed by the client and the server is operated via the operation screen displayed at the client.
2. Description of the Related Art
A so-called direct printing system has been proposed wherein a printer and a digital camera are connected directly to each other without involving a personal computer and printing is carried out by operating the printer with use of the digital camera. In such a direct printing system, a printer understands a command used for a digital camera while the digital camera understands a command for the printer. In this manner, image data to be printed can be selected and printing can be carried out.
However, a memory having enormous capacity would be necessary for a digital camera if the digital camera understood all printers available on the market, regarding sizes of paper usable by the printers, the types of the paper (such as glossy or ordinary paper), the number of images printable on one sheet of paper, and commands for carrying out specialized functions of the respective printers such as recording in a CD-R. Such a digital camera would be costly. Likewise, a printer would need a memory of vast capacity if the printer understood commands for carrying out functions of all digital cameras on the market. Therefore, such a printer would be more expensive. For this reason, only a specific combination of a printer and a digital camera can configure a direct printing system in reality. Even in the case where a direct printing system can be configured, only basic functions of a printer and a digital camera therein can be used.
Therefore, a system has been proposed for enabling control of both a digital camera and a printer without understanding of commands therefor (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 10(1998)-224676, 2000-196799, and 2001-222318). In such a system, a digital camera has a function of a Web browser and acts as a client while a printer acts as a server. The printer provides to the digital camera an operation screen as content to be displayed on the digital camera, and the Web browser is used as a user interface (UI) of the digital camera. In this manner, even if neither the printer nor the digital camera understands a command for the digital camera or the printer, both can be controlled. A system using a browser of a cellular phone or the like as a UI for controlling a domestic appliance or the like is also known.
In addition, a system has been proposed for operating an apparatus by an input thereto from another apparatus via an operation screen (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 9(1997)-149325, 11(1999)-249709, 11(1999)-328081, and 2001-136588). In this system, an apparatus such as AV equipment to be controlled (referred to as a target apparatus) and another apparatus such as a TV set used for controlling the target apparatus (referred to as a controlling apparatus) are connected to each other, and the target apparatus sends operation information for controlling the target apparatus (such as image information for displaying an operation screen and audio information for control instruction) to the controlling apparatus. The operation information is displayed on the controlling apparatus, and the controlling apparatus receives an input for controlling the target apparatus via the operation screen.
If such a system is applied to a direct printing system, a digital camera can operate a printer without understanding a command to the printer.
Meanwhile, in the system described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 10(1998)-224676, 2000-196799, or 2001-222318, the digital camera functions as the Web browser. Therefore, in the case where the content provided from the printer includes characters as character codes, the digital camera needs to store a font for display of the characters. However, since a digital camera is produced for photography and image display, only the minimum amount of fonts is often stored therein for photography and image display. Therefore, in order to display all the characters provided from the printer to the digital camera for display of the operation screen, the digital camera needs to store all of the fonts to be used in the operation screen in relation to the character codes. As a result, a configuration of the digital camera becomes more complex, and the digital camera becomes more expensive.
In the system described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 9(1997)-149325, 11(1999)-249709, 11(1999)-328081, or 2001-136588, in the case where the operation information is sent in the form of an image to the digital camera, a component such as a button for forming the operation screen needs to be laid out in the operation screen. However, when the component is laid out in the operation screen, a size and a position thereof need to be changed by the digital camera, which leads to a burden on an operator of the digital camera.
Furthermore, in the case where the system according to any one of the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications described above is applied to a direct printing system, the operation screen is provided from the printer to the digital camera to be displayed at the digital camera while images to be printed are stored in the digital camera. Therefore, in order to display the operation screen on the digital camera for selecting the images to be printed, the printer needs to obtain image data stored in the digital camera, a list of the image data, or a catalog of thumbnail images of the image data in advance. Furthermore, the printer has to provide the operation screen for image selection to the digital camera by generating the operation screen from the image data, the list, or the catalog. In order to obtain the image data from the digital camera, the printer needs to understand the structure of the image data in the digital camera. Therefore, sending and receiving the image data, the list, or the catalog is a time-consuming operation, and the digital camera and the printer become heavily burdened.